1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a an apparatus for transporting fluids across, into or from tissues and more particularly for transporting biological fluids across, into or from biological tissues.
2. Description of Related Art
The ability to transport fluids across, into or from biological tissues plays an important role in many medical procedures. For instance, many medical treatments require that blood be withdrawn across a patient's skin or that medicament be administered to a patient by injecting the medicament across the patient's skin. There are known methods of administering medicament transdermally via diffusion through the skin. However, the skin has protective functions that prevent the intrusion of foreign matter from outside, so merely coating the skin with medicament is not sufficient for the medicament to be absorbed efficiently.
Biological fluids can be collected and medicaments can be administered using a hypodermic needle. However, hypodermic needles are associated with a risk of infection and are known to be painful. It is also known to collect fluids through the skin of a patient by applying a vacuum suction apparatus to the skin, however, vacuum suction apparatuses are known to have poor efficiency and to leave suction marks remaining on the skin.
Many of the problems described above also result when fluids are transported across, into or from other biological tissues such as the walls of blood vessels or the surface of organs.
There is a need for a method and apparatus capable of efficiently transporting fluids across, into or from a tissue without causing pain or leaving marks upon the patient.